The National Football League was founded in 1920, but there were no playoffs or Super Bowl until 1932. From the year 1920 to 1932 the championship was bestowed to a squad through a voting system which was done by the owners of the teams during their annual meeting. From 1924 to 1932 the championship was awarded to the team with the highest win percentage. Here the teams were playing an altered number of games, so the counting of points didn’t hold good. Even the points awarded were not of any significance because they could not get a clear picture at the end of the league. It was in the year 1932 that these flaws showed up and additional games had to be played under difficult circumstances to bring out a clear picture to decide the winner. With these happenings it brought about changes and ultimately led to the birth of the playoffs.
The playoffs in the National Football League are held as an elimination tourney, played at the conclusion of each regular season to decide the winners of the National Football League. Half a dozen teams from the league’s two divisions succeed in qualifying to play in the playoffs. These are based on the current season points standing- if two teams are of same standings then the rule of tiebreaker comes into play. The tournament concludes with the final game, called the Super Bowl, which happens to be the league final game that matches the two divisional champions.
The National Football League expanded its wings in the year 1967 where four teams were eligible to play in the tournament, when the league fused with the American football league. The playoffs opened up to eight teams in the 1970s, then further expanded to a strength of ten teams in 1978, and twelve teams from the year 1990.
The NFL happens to be the only one out of four sports leagues’ for major professional sports in the United States, which makes use of the solitary elimination in its playoffs in all the four rounds. The other major professional sports use the ‘best of’ selection method instead. It’s fun to bet on the NFL Playoffs!
The NFL has grown over the years and at present has thirty two teams allocated into two divisions, and each of the divisions has sixteen teams in their pack. The divisions being the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference. Since 2002 they have been divided into four divisions of four teams each. Four teams from each division are ranked from one to four and two wild card entries will be ranked five and six.
Matches will be played among these teams against each other- for example the number one seeded team hosting the lower ranked sides. After these games are finished the two teams with best standings play each other in the Super Bowl to decide the winner. The Super Bowl begins with a lot of extravaganza and concludes with the final game which decides the winner of the National Football League.
NFL playoff betting is as much of a past time as watch the games themselves. If you wager on the games this weekend, please be responsible and hopefully you’ll win some cash $$$!
